Looking for any real-world experience of the two main approaches to OS/Data separation, in particular with SSDs:
1) Moving /users external
2) Symbolic links to only certain folders external (e.g. video, music)

My current 09 mini is setup via option 1 which works great but with planning to move up to a new Mini with SSD, I'm wondering if this is still the best approach. Would having the libraries, preferences etc. be more beneficial on the SSD as well, hence looking more to option 2?

This would've made a good poll. I ran the Fusion set up for a while but backed off as I don't really feel comfortable with software RAID. I used method 2 method myself. My large directories are pictures and music. Those get linked to the spinning disk.

it is a good question. Comes down to money. I have a quad 2012 2.3 mini. it is running a fusion that I setup. 1x 512gb samsung ssd with 1x 1tb oem 5400rpm hdd. this ssd to hdd ratio of 1 to 2 gets rid of all undersized ssd issues.

I posted to it as philipma1957. I do not recommend Apple's 128gb to 1tb setup. But if you do a diy with a big ssd you will love the setup. Now fusion is raid like so you need backup. I have a tm and I do a weekly clone.

I also have a nas for older movies/tv

I off load from the fusion to it once in a while.

upside this is a very powerful setup. down side it is not cheap. at sales and discounts. a 2012 quad is 700 16gb ram is 90 the 500gb ssd is 350 the cable to attach is 30. so 1170 for the fusion quad. plus having at least 2 drives to backup and a nas is 330 or so. grand total 1500. not cheap!_________________2010 Mm 2.4 C2D oem 320gb hdd 8gb ram
2012Mm base 2.5 with 16gb ram diy fusion drive
2012Mm quad with 8gb ram oem 1tb hdd

I really like your approach - very hands off. I think 256gb would be more than satisfactory in my situation though. The question is whether I want to go the route of cracking a mini open again. Would you say the effort is roughly on par with the 09 models?

A Crucial M4 256 plus the stock Apple 1TB would save some money as well as give me the breathing room I need. The only thing I would need to keep external would be my shared folder where all the big read-only media resides. One symbolic link for that and I'm done.

As for cost - never really subscribed to having a NAS having opted to just use the Mini itself as the gateway to all our devices since the mini is always on when we're not away or sleeping (is on a schedule). I use PS3 Media Server (evaluating Plex) and it works great.

Any reason you didn't upgrade to the 2.6 mini? At only ~$90 seems like a reasonable cost given the inability to upgrade later.

Finally, you've found Time Machine to be a satisfactory approach to backup management? When I originally setup the mini, had read a few negatives about it and opted for Chronosync instead which works great. I haven't really re-visited Time Machine since. I bring home a 1TB external monthly from work as my off-site backup so TM would need to enable me to do that.

I really like your approach - very hands off. I think 256gb would be more than satisfactory in my situation though. The question is whether I want to go the route of cracking a mini open again. Would you say the effort is roughly on par with the 09 models?

It's easier to break connectors in the new Minis.

avsfan wrote:

At only ~$90 seems like a reasonable cost given the inability to upgrade later.

Unless you're maxxing out the CPU a lot, it's probably not worth it. For most the 2.3 would be more than fast enough. The $90 may be better saved towards upgrading to a newer faster model in the future or doing upgrades like using a better SSD as part of a fusion drive._________________Laptop - 2012 15" base rMBP with 16GB RAM
HTPC - 2.0Ghz Mac Mini (Early 09), 120GB 5400 RPM HDD and 4GB RAM
Another Mini - 2.53Ghz Mac Mini (Late 09), 320GB 5400 RPM HDD and 4GB RAM
2011 Mini Server
NAS - 10 x ReadyNAS units

So the general consensus seems to be to get the mini with the 1TB drive and add an SSD instead of getting the Fusion drive from the start? Does physical placement of the drives determine the default startup drive or do I still do that in System Prefs? I'm looking at getting the 2.3 i7 mini to replace my dual 2.5 G5 tower.